The invention relates to an improved folding chair. More particularly, the invention relates to a stackable folding chair having stacking guides and a notch that permit multiple chairs to be stacked on top of each other and maintained in an organized manner.
It is well known that conventional folding chairs provide readily available seating. Typically, such chairs are used as temporary seating arrangements and are easily folded and stored when not in use. For situations involving large audiences, such as when used in arenas, for weddings, and other such events, the large number of folding chairs are usually stacked on top of each other and stored accordingly. Unfortunately, the conventional folding chair suffers from a drawback of being difficult to stack in an organized manner and tend to slide relative to each other when stacked. An attempt to overcome the sliding problem has been to configure containers or carts that are specifically structured to receive and hold the folded chairs in an orderly manner.
Attempts have also been made to design and manufacture folding chairs that do not require separate containers and/or carts specifically configured to store the folded chairs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,684 to Kojima et al. discloses a typical example of stacked folding chairs wherein a separate brace device is attached to the chair legs so as to engage the brace of a second folded chair in order to stack multiple folded chairs. The Kojima et al. folding chair suffers from the drawback of requiring the brace as an additional component that is attached to chair, which increases the cost of manufacturing each chair and adds a step in stacking the chairs as a result of having to ensure the braces of the stacked chairs engage each other.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,408 to Wu discloses a stackable folding chair having protrusions integrally formed on a front side of the front legs and a corresponding number of indentations integrally formed on a back side of the same front legs opposite the protrusions. The indentations are configured to receive the protrusions from a second chair.
Therefore, when the chairs are folded and positioned adjacent to one another, the protrusions on the front side of the front legs of a first chair fit within the corresponding indentations on the back side of the front legs of the next or second chair. The first and second chairs are thus retained in the stacked arrangement. Furthermore, each protrusion has a first geometric shape occupying a first surface area. Each indentation is multi-leveled to have a first region adjacent an outer surface of the back leg having the same general geometric shape of the protrusion, but occupies a larger surface area. A second, inner region of each indentation is positioned inward of the first region and has the same geometric shape as the protrusion. The second region is dimensioned so the protrusion sits flush within the second region.
The indentations are formed to have multi levels so the person stacking the chairs can first locate the protrusion within the first region of the indentation. Because the first region of the indentation is larger than the protrusion, the person stacking the chairs is able to generally position the protrusion of the first chair within the first region of the corresponding indentation on the second chair. After the protrusions of the first chair are positioned within the first regions of the corresponding indentations of the second chair, the person stacking the chairs can position the protrusions within the second region to securely stack the first and second chairs together as the outer edges of the first region act as a boundary.
As such, the Wu folding chair suffers from complicated and costly manufacturing methods in order to machine the legs to have the multi leveled indentations capable of receiving the protrusions therein, thereby raising the cost of each chair. Furthermore, the step of aligning the protrusion first with the first region of the indentation and then the second region of the indentation can become rather cumbersome if a large number of chairs is involved in the stacking process.
Another example of an attempt to provide a stackable folding chair is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,073 to Bruschi. Bruschi discloses a stackable plastic folding chair having front legs with shaped portions that extend outwardly from opposite sides of an intermediate section to form stop abutments for ends of a back leg of an adjacent folding chair. The seat of the chair is connected to the front legs by pivot pins and is connected to the back legs by pivot pins. The pivot pins connecting the seat to the front legs are only rotatable, whereas the pivot pins connecting the seat to the back legs are slidable in grooves formed along a longitudinal axis of the back legs. The seat also has a transverse housing positioned at the rear of the seat.
The transverse housing has a U-shape when seen from a side view and is configured to hook a crosspiece connecting the back legs from below. It is important to note that the transverse housing is not a feature of the Bruschi chair involved in the stacking process.
Rather, each front and back leg has a right-angled profile including a larger wing and a smaller wing, respectively, with each large wing being perpendicular to its respective small wing. In the compacted position, the front and back legs are close to each other so as to substantially define side columns having C-shaped profiles. In the compacted position side columns, the large wings of the front legs are next to the small wings of the back legs. Accordingly, first and second shaped portions are provided at upper and lower end sections, respectively, of the front legs to form stop abutments for the first and second ends of the back legs of a second chair in the compacted position that is to be stacked with the first chair in the compacted position.
Put simply, Bruschi uses the wings formed by the shaped portions of the front and back legs to facilitate stacking of multiple chairs. The shaped portions require additional materials and manufacturing steps, thereby increasing the amount of time needed to produce each chair as well as the cost of such.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,605 to Stanfield discloses a folding chair having a stacking device or brace that is sized to be fitted snugly to a cylindrical chair leg. The brace engages the brace of a second chair wherein multiple chairs can be stacked in an orderly manner. The braces require additional materials as they are an additional component that must be added to the standard framework of the chair. The braces therefore require additional manufacturing time and material which result in an increased overall cost of the chair.
It is an object of this invention to overcome the above-described drawbacks of the related art.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a stackable folding chair having stacking guides and a stacking notch integrated into the structure of the seat of the chair.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a stackable folding chair having a pair of parallel front legs and a pair of parallel back legs pivotally connected to the front legs. The front legs are separated by top, bottom and intermediate crosspieces, wherein the top crosspiece forms a back rest. The back legs are separated by a top and a bottom crosspiece. A seat is rotatably connected to the front legs by a rod between the backrest and intermediate crosspiece and slidably connected to the back legs by a pair of dowel pins that engage dowel slots formed on the inner side face of each back leg. The seat includes a plurality of stacking guides and a stacking lip integrally formed therein. The stacking guides extend downward and away from a bottom surface of the seat and the stacking lip extends in a direction relatively orthogonal to a top surface of the seat to form a substantially right angle shape. The extending direction of the stacking lip is substantially opposite the extending direction of the stacking guides. The stacking lip includes a notch that engages the top crosspiece of the back legs when the chair is in the open or in use position and receives a lower back corner of a second seat in the closed or folded position, wherein the first and second chairs are orderly stacked together.
These and other objects and aspects of the invention will be described in or be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment.